When Realization Hit
by the-Mad-Majesty-of-Muchness
Summary: She found 2 mysterious letters. She looked on in shock as the Witch broke down into hysterical sobs. Then, Dorothy suddenly realized: The Wicked Witch of the West was in love. Can one girl's discovery affect the history of Oz as we know it?...
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Just something that I thought would be fun after seeing this - .com/favourites/?offset=96#/d1f5osb My comment on the linked-to page is the one made by psychicpixie17 (which is my Deviant Art username), third one down, I think. Be sure to read the artist's comments, it might make more sense that way. Yes, there will be more to come, I have already thought up an entire situation between Elphie and Dorothy where they sort of make a sort of mini-semi truce thingy (or something along those lines) and just sort of sit and talk and Elphie opens up a little bit after having a minor hysterical/emotional breakdown and becomes a little more willing to talk about herself and reveal a few things, but she also knows that the Witch Hunters are coming and that she probably doesn't have much time left, so she's just sort of awaiting her impending doom, but trying not to panic, because she's sort of getting attached to Dorothy in a way and doesn't want to upset her. It's sort of a bitter-sweet, heart-felt little story. Elphie, at this point, is heart-broken, she's all alone in this big, gloomy castle, she's been that way for a while with nobody to talk to, and suddenly, here's this strange little farm girl from a place she's never even heard of whose house killed her little sister and who she's basically holding hostage, yet this girl is not only curious and eager to learn more about her, but she's actually willing to listen to what she has to say, and gives her sympathy, which is something that she's never really had before. Think about it...If you were in Elphaba's place...wouldn't you want to snatch up that chance, too? Okay, I'm done rambling. R&R, please. Love ya'll (in a not weird kind of way)**

**-Maggie  
**

_Fae-_

_I miss you so much. I think about you everyday and wonder when I'll see you again. Soon, I hope. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take! Putting on this ridiculous act is getting so annoying! The only reason I still have my sanity is because I keep telling myself over and over again that I'm doing it for you, so that we can finally be together again and get the shit out of this hell hole of a country. Just the thought of seeing you again keeps me going. If not for that thought, I'd have given up days ago. Since I can't sleep, I have guard duty at night while everybody else is asleep. I just sort of wander around in circles, staying in the general area of where we set up camp, but far enough that if somebody wakes up, they won't be able to hear me. I watch the ground the entire time and move slowly, talking to myself. I'm not really muttering or mumbling, but I'm not talking at a normal volume, either. But, anyway, you're the only thing I think about, and you're also what I talk to myself about. Every now and then, I'll pause and just look straight ahead, directly at the horizon line, but keep talking. I may not be able to sleep, Fae, but if there's one thing I can still do, it's cry. And I cry every single night. I cry because I miss you. I cry because I want to see you. I cry because you aren't with me. I cry because we're miles apart. I cry because I don't know when I'll get to see you again. I cry because I'm afraid I might not get that chance. I cry because I love you, Fae. I always have and always will.. I don't know how much more of this I can take. How much longer I can last...I'll be there as soon as I can._

_I'm coming for you, Fae. Hold out for me. Just a little longer. I love you. More than you'll ever know._

_-Fiyero_

Dorothy scrunched up her face. Fiyero? Who was Fiyero? And for that matter, who was Fae? She saw another piece of stationary sitting off to the side, partially hidden underneath the letter she had just read. She noticed that there was elegant writing on it, but whoever the writing belonged to hadn't bothered to finish their letter. She carefully moved the first letter aside and picked up the unfinished one. She glanced over it briefly, noticing that there were splatters of ink in a few places and one edge had been partially burned off, leaving it brown, singed, and ragged. There was a large brown stain of some kind near the top edge of the paper and one or two more identical, smaller stains in other places. The stains felt the same as the burned edge; crisp, almost fragile, even, as if the paper would crumble if touched the wrong way. She also couldn't help but take note of the fact that the ink was smeared in multiple places as if something wet had gotten onto the paper. Something like tears. This new, partly damaged letter, she could tell, was meant to convey just as much heartfelt emotion as the one adressed to someone named Fae. Like the first letter-this one adressed to Yero, which Dorothy guessed was a nickname for Fiyero, the person who had sent the first one. Could this one perhaps be Fae's response?-it was filled with love, longing, and most of all, sadness and heart-break. Perhaps even more of the latter two than in the first one.

_Yero,_

_I know how you feel, love. I miss you too. I think about you, I dream about you...My heart feels like it's about to burst with yearning! Yearning to see your face, to hear your voice, to look into your eyes and know that you love me...Yearning to feel your arms holding me close to you, to run my fingers through your soft brown hair, to hear you whisper sweet nothings in my ear, to lay beside you in bed with your arms around me...When I read your letter...When I read about what you do...every single night...it just...it was like somebody had taken a giant mallet and smashed my heart into a hundred gazillion little bitty shards, and I cried. I just...Oz, Fiyero, I can't do this anymore! I can't take it! I can't keep living in fear like this anymore! I wish I had never gone to the Emerald City all those years ago. Maybe then, none of this ever would have happened. You and I, we could be married right now, with a family! And Glinda, she and I could still be best friends! If she and I had never gotten on that Oz foresaken train, maybe then all of our lives would be so much happier right now, so much easier! We would all still have each other! Nessarose might still be alive, and Boq might've even come to his senses by now and_ t_hey could've gotten married! They deserved each other, they always did, and now one of them is dead, and the other is...ugh! This is all my fault, Yero, everything is all my fault! I'm a horrible person, and I don't deserve your love, I never deserved it! I never deserved you or Glinda or Chistery! I don't deserve_

The letter stopped there. The wet stains had gotten more and more frequent, and at the bottom, beneath the place where it ended abruptly, there was one giant wet spot surrounded by more of the smaller ones, as if the person had laid their head down on the desk and cried with either the side of or their entire face on the paper, causing the tears to gather in one spot and the stains they left to join together and create one big stain. Dorothy looked up. She heard footsteps in the hallway. She rushed away from the desk, and not a moment too soon, because the door opened to reveal the Witch.

Without her strange, magical disguise, she was actually rather young, probably no older than twenty years old. Her raven black hair, oily, greasy, wiry, stringy, and cut off mid-cheekbone with ragged edges and dead ends when she was in disguise, was, in reality, long and silky. It shone in the dim candle-and-torch light that was the main source of lighting in most of the castle, save the natural light that entered through the windows, though that was nearly gone this late in the day. It went down to the small of her back, almost to her waist. Her nose, which usally appeared long, pointed, and crooked with a wart, was really no longer or more pointed or crooked than Dorothy's own nose. And as for the wart, well, without the magic, her skin was flawless. As far as Dorothy could tell, she didn't even have any moles or freckles. A birthmark, perhaps, but if there was one, it was covered up. Every wrinkle had vanished completley from her face.

She had long, thick eyelashes and a slender frame. The hunch in her back didn't exist. She stood up perfectly straight. If Dorothy had to guess, she'd say the Witch was maybe somewhere around 5'10", but also knew that, of course, there was a possiblity she was wearing shoes with some kind of a heel on them that might've added a few inches or so to her height. She moved with grace and ease when she walked, and her long fingers moved swiftly when she paused on her way across the room to tie a small black bag onto a black rope, which she then put around her waist like a belt so that the small bag was hanging over her upper thigh. Her eyes were a rich brown that reminded Dorothy of freshly over-turned earth, and the bits of silver looked like flecks of mica. She had full, perfect lips.

Her skin was a much prettier shade of green than Dorothy had originally thought. It was a beautiful emerald color, but not like the greens in the Emerald City. This green was much easier to look at because it wasn't as bright as those other greens. Not a glowing green. Yes, she did glow, in a sense, but it was more of a young and healthy, metaphorical glow, not the annoying, albeit literal kind that was in the Emerald City.

She ignored Dorothy, seemingly unaware of the girl's presence, and went straight to the desk as soon as she was sure that the bag was firmly secured to the rope around her waist and the knot wasn't going to come undone. She started rifiling through the messiness and piles of paper and stacks of books sitting on the desktop, muttering to herself under her breath. Suddenly, she froze and the muttering stopped. "That's odd," she said, more to herself than Dorothy. "I could've sworn I left them both right here...Where in...Maybe I just misplaced them without realizing it. Where else could they be, though? Maybe Chistery has seen them..." She left the room, leaving Dorothy alone again, to wonder about several things. She didn't have to wonder for long, however, because the Witch came back after a few moments, now even more puzzled than before.

"That is so strange, I _know_ I left them right-" She stopped dead in her tracks. Dorothy waited anxiously. Slowly, the Witch turned to face her. "What are you doing in here?" she said in a low voice, obviously struggling not to lose her temper. "N-Nothing." Dorothy stuttered nervously. "How did you get into this room?" the Witch demanded, her voice rising. "I-I found a secret passage by accident a-and I was curious, so I decided to s-see where it led." The Witch glared menacingly at her. Then, without any warning, she grabbed Dorothy by the wrists, holding her in a vise grip, and pulled her closer until the tips of their noses were just inches apart. She forced the terrified farm girl to look straight into her furious earth-and-mica eyes.

She spoke in that same low, angry voice, slowly, deliberatly. "Did you touch _anything?_ I want the truth." Dorothy bobbed her head once, her entire body trembling with fear. Speaking in the same way as before, but now through her teeth, she asked, "What was it? And what did you do with it when you were done with it? Where did you put it?" Dorothy was silent, still trembling. "Answer me!" the Witch shouted. "I-I just looked at some papers on the desk. I-I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself, I was curious! I put them back on the desk as soon as I finished with them. I swear! Th-They should still be there." The Witch's eyes got wide. "What papers? What did they look like, what were they?" Her voice was getting louder and she was starting to lose her temper. "They were letters!" Dorothy cried. This seemed to infurate the green woman even more. "Who wrote them? And who were they adressed to? What did they say?"

"One was fr-from somebody named Fi-Fiyero, i-it was adressed to someone n-named Fae. I think the other one was a response, b-but I'm not sure. It was only half-written and one edge was burned and there were stains and ink splatters and a giant wet spot, and some of the ink was smeared...It looked like the person was crying while they were writing it. They both talked about how much they loved and missed each other, and they were miserable and heart-broken from being so far apart...The one written to Fae talked about getting out of a hell hole and never coming back, leaving forever. The person who wrote it said they were coming for her, they'd be here as soon as they could. It asked her to hold out for them-him, I guess. He asked her to hold out for him just a little longer, then said that he loves her more than she'll ever know."

"And the other one?"

"She said that when she read his letter, it made her cry and it was like somebody shattered her heart into tiny little pieces with a mallet. She wrote that it feels like her heart is about to burst with yearning, and she listed a bunch of things that she's yearning _for, _and all of them were something that had to do with him. She told him that she thinks about him and dreams about him every night. Then she got upset and started saying she can't take it anymore, and can't stand living in fear for much longer. She was talking about how if she and a friend of hers hadn't gone to the Emerald City years ago, things might be different, and their lives would be happier and easier, and...and..."

Dorothy stopped. The Witch had let go of her wrists and now had her back to the girl. Her face was covered by her hands, and her narrow shoulders were trembling. Suddenly, Dorothy realized that the Wicked Witch of the West was crying. The Witch pulled something from beneath the fabric of her dress around her neck. A necklace. She held it tightly in her fists, next to her heart, her sobs becoming more and more frequent and closer together. The necklace slipped from between her fingers, but she quickly snatched it back. The single brief second, however, was enough for Dorothy to see that it wasn't a necklace, it was a pendant.

It was a heart hanging on a thin gold chain, with a gold setting. The truly magnificent thing, however, was the gemstone set within the gold. It looked like a cross between an emerald and a sapphire. One half was blue, the other was green, and the two colors met in the center, swirling and twining into each other like fingers of mist, or fog. The Witch continued to clutch the pendant with one hand, and with the other, she reached into the folds of her skirt. When she pulled her hand back out, she had a folded up photograph. There must have been a hidden pocket, disguised as another fold in the fabric. She quickly unfolded it and looked at it. The picture was of a handsome young man with brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was smiling broadly, revealing perfectly straight teeth. When the Witch held both the pendant and the picture directly above her heart, the last few pieces of the puzzle that Dorothy was working on in her head fell into place, finally allowing the young girl to understand what was going on and see the whole picture. And the picture looked something like this:

The Witch was in love.

The Witch was in love with the man in the picture.

The man loved her back.

The man had given her the pendant.

The man was Fiyero.

Fiyero had written the first letter.

Fiyero had written the letter to the woman he loved.

That woman was the Witch.

The Witch was Fae.

**AN: The gemstone set in Elphaba's necklace is not my creation. It's something called "Witch's Stone," and was created by Fiyero'sGirl-Elphaba, making its original appearance in her one-shot, "Sensible Rules," which is a very good story, and I highly suggest reading it if and when you get the chance. I am using it with her permission, I asked if I could in my review for "Sensible" and she PM'd me back saying I could use it anytime I wanted and that she looked forward to seeing it in one of my stories, so don't go to her saying "Defying-Gravity-4ever is using your Witch's Stone without permission," or "Maggie put the Witch's Stone in her story without asking," or whatever. Also, since I forgot to do this at the beginning of the chapter, I'll do it now:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Dorothy (for which I am grateful, cuz I hate her guts, usually), and as for the rest of it, please see "The Ultimate Disclaimer."**

**Love ya'll!**

**-Maggie  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: HEY, GUYS, CHECK IT OUT! I FINALLY FIGURED HOW TO SEPERATE THE AN FROM THE ACTUAL CHAPTER AND ALL THE DIFFERENT POVS FROM EACH OTHER! *ahem* ...Uh, so...*coughs* ...And in other news: Things kind of start to fall into place a little bit more this chapter, a few more pieces of the puzzle get discovered and put together, and a tiny bit more of the mystery behind the Suddenly-Not-so-Wicked Witch of the West (better known to all us Wicked fanatics and geeks as Elphie, yay!) gets solved. Enjoy, my pretties, and please review. Rose Emeraldfay and Bremela, you are my two most faithful readers and loyal followers, as well as active reviewers I love you both (as over-the-internet-friends) so, SO much, and I always look forward to hearing from you both! Your reviews make my day and cheer me up when I'm down! This chapter is dedicated to you.**

**Gratefully yours, **

**Maggie  
**

**

* * *

**Dorothy let out a small gasp, but the Witch-Fae, apparantly-seemed not to notice. Hesitantly, as if almost afraid to do so, Dorothy voiced her realization in a soft whisper. "She's in love..." The Witch-_Ugh!_ Dorothy thought. _Stop calling her that! You just figured out that her name is Fae and you can't even bring yourself to put that knowledge to use by calling her by her real name!-_turned around, her eyes blood-shot from crying and at least one tear still left and the trails left by the other ones fresh on her (oddly so, but still) beautiful emerald colored cheeks.

She wiped away the last of the tears with her arm and sniffled. "What was that?" she asked, sounding a bit stuffy, probably from the runny nose that usually came along with crying. "N-Nothing." Dorothy said. Fae narrowed her eyes slightly.

She was breathing in gasps through her slightly parted lips. She studied Dorothy intently for a moment before her gaze softened and her breathing quickened. She was sweating now. "Ugh," she said, running the back of her hand across her forehead, wiping the sweat off. "Just...st-stay here," she told the young farm girl.

"Don't-don't go anywhere, I'll be right back." She left the room, closing the door behind her. Dorothy watched the door for a moment before whispering softly to the empty space in front of her, "I promise not to leave, Fae."

* * *

Elphaba rushed down the hallway, fanning herself with her hand by the time she was headed up the next flight of steps. She hurried into her room and closed the door. She went to the wardrobe and flung the doors open, hastily scanning its contents.

After a moment of debate over what would provide the most freedom of movement while at the same time allowing the air to make contact with her skin so she would cool off, she pulled out a black nightgown, followed by her black dressing gown and satin ballet-flat style slippers. She changed quickly out of her dress and into the nightgown, then put her slippers on.

Taking the dressing gown with her out of the room, she slipped her arms through the arm holes on the way out the door and tied the strings as she went down the hallway, having pulled her hair into a loose, messy braid, tied and held together on the end with a sapphire blue ribbon made of silk that reminded her of Fiyero.

She opened the door to the room she had left the farm girl in and closed it behind her, pausing at the top of the stairs to take a deep breath before she went down. She found the girl exactly how she'd left her in the same spot, gazing off into the distance.

The older woman cocked her head, watching the young teenager curiously and wondering what was running through her head that could require such deep, intense thought, especially at her age. Surely she couldn't have been older than what? 14? 15 at the very most, probably.

"Dorothy?" she said, snapping the brunette out of whatever reverie she was lost in. The latter gasped as her head whipped around. She stared at Elphaba, those milk chocolate eyes of hers wide. "Y-Yes?" she said. Elphaba studied her intently for a moment, then blinked an shook her head, making her way to the window. "Nothing," she said as she stared out past the sprawling landscape at the horizon. "Now," Elphaba said, turning back to Dorothy.

"What was that you said earlier?" She raised one raven eyebrow. "N-Nothing, ma'am, I just...was talking to myself, is all." Elphaba tilted her head to one side. "Dorothy," she said, sitting down in the high-backed chair next to the wooden table. She looked back at the girl, her eyes having softened quite a bit, and her expression suddenly kind. She smiled wearily.

"I know that wasn't it. I can see right past that kind of thing. I've always been able to, and I put that ability to use. I'm not going to hurt you, okay? Please, just tell me what it is you said earlier." Dorothy seemed to hesitate. "Promise not to hurt me?" she asked after a moment. Elphaba gave one slow nod. "I promise."

"Swear?" Elphaba chuckled a bit. She put her right hand over her heart and held up her left. Smiling, she stood up and looked at Dorothy. "I, Elphaba Chloe Thropp, swear upon my mother's grave that I will not harm you." she sincerely.

* * *

So her name was _Elphaba,_ not Fae. Fae was probably just a nickname that somebody had given her at one point or another in her life. "Um..." Dorothy began, trying to clear her head. "I...I just...realized something, is all, and I was...I was voicing it to myself...that's all." Elphaba sighed as she sat back down. "Please," she said, "Dorothy, _please._ I'm tired, I don't feel well, I've been through a lot recently-and I don't just mean in the time since you've been in Oz, I'm talking about the past..._3 years,_ and..." She broke off into a sob and put her hand over the pendant, which now lay exposed just below her mostly bare collarbone.

Dorothy shifted a bit. "You're in love...aren't you?" After a moment, Elphaba sniffled and looked up, her eyes blood-shot again. "Wh-Why would you say that?" she asked as she wiped a few tears away from the corner of her eye. Dorothy shrugged, no longer afraid of the green woman in front of her. "Some of the things you've done lately...it's just kind of obvious. In fact, that realization I had earlier? The one I was voicing to myself? That's what it was. That you're in love.

"You're Fae, aren't you? That name that was in the one letter...it was for you, wasn't it? You're Fae. And you probably wrote-or started to write, anyway-that other letter. That other name, Fiyero?" Elphaba winced slightly at the mention of this name, but Dorothy kept going. "He's the one you're in love with, isn't he?" Elphaba shook her head, but not so much in denial as much as just utter sorrow and depression. "Yes," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I am...I am truly, deeply, and madly in love with Fiyero..."

* * *

**AN: So, what do you think? I received a small critique last chapter, saying I should try to make the paragraphs smaller, so I did my best to work on that this time, but I wanna know what everybody thinks. Like I said, a bit of the mystery was solved, but now the question arises: Why did Elphaba have that flash of intense heat and panic? Is she ill? Coming down with something? Was it just nerves? Or was it something else entirely? I'd love to hear what you guys think, so feel free to send in your guess. Also, the reason I chose Chloe as her middle name is because when I was looking online for a good name that would fit her but was also kind of Ozian (even though I know Chloe doesn't sound very Ozian) I found this site called "Behind the Name" with all kinds of names (Ancient Greek, Irish, Celtic mythology, etc., etc.) and their rough translations and meanings, and "Chloe" was in the girls' ancient Greek names section, and according to the site, Chloe means "green sprout" in ancient Greek, and this being Elphaba...well, you get the picture. Also, if you want to see what Elphaba's nightgown and dressing gown look like, I'll be posting links on my profile, so be sure to check that out, too. Okay, ramble over. ;)**

**Unidentifiably (as in my mood is currently unidentifiable) yours,**

**Maggie **

**PS:**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Elphaba's hair ribbon, slippers, the idea of putting her in a nightgown and dressing gown, and...Oh! And the idea of making her middle name Chloe.  
**


	3. Quick author's note

**AN: I forgot to mention that the fic takes place in the room where Elphaba and Glinda sang "For Good" in the musical, however, I have taken creative liberties and placed a rectangular wooden table near the big circular window on the same side of the room where the well is (though I have removed the well) and a semi-high-backed chair facing partially away from the stairs turned diagonally towards the general direction of where the well (usually) is but also turned partly towards the fire place (see below), and the table has papers, books, documents, scrolls, etc. scattered all over it along with a few potions/empty bottles and her mother's green glass bottle. There is a fire place on the wall opposite the stairs, but there isn't a fire burning (for now, anyway. this may change later on).**


	4. Another AN

**AN: Ok, it has come to my attention through my source-on-the-street a.k.a somebody who reviewed (it was ElphabaROCKS, so thanks to her for pointing that out!) that the link I posted in the AN at the very beginning of the first chapter is not being displayed properly due to the annoyingness that is 's link filtering. SO *brings hands together in front of chest with loud clapping sound* this is my formal apology for that. I am so very, VERY sorry, and the REAL link can be found on my profile. Again, I apologize for any and all confusion this may have caused. I've been meaning to fix it for quite awhile now, but I've been busy with life and focused on posting updates to my stories as often as possible between everything going on in said life. Speaking of updating stories, I am EXTREMELY (and I honestly _cannot_ stress that enough) sorry about the wait on this one, but, as I said, I have a busy life, and on top of that, I seem to have hit a wall with this story and have a case of writer's block. I am NOT giving up on it though! If you read my profile, you know that I usually am unable to finish my stories, but I am DETERMINED to make _this_ story one of the few exceptions! So, anyway, the point is, I'm working on it, but I cannot promise that it will be up within a certain amount of time, for which I apologize. Okay, let's see, anything else? Hm...*pauses to think*...Guys, can you think of anything else we should tell the readers?**

**Fiyero: Uh...Nope.**

**Glinda: Nuh-uh.**

**Elphie: Um...Oh, the poll!**

**That's right! Remember in chapter...two, I think it was? Anyway, Elphaba had a brief but intense heat flash in the story, and I AM going to reveal why later in the story (it's gonna be a surprise!), but I wanna see what YOU, the readers think, so I took the liberty (no need to thank me :P) of creating a poll about it, which you can find on my profile. It will be open until right before I post the chapter that reveals the reason behind the flash, which might be awhile, so go check it out while you can. Uh, so I think that's it! Again, sorry for the wait, I'm working on it, check out the link to the pic that didn't get properly displayed first time around while you're on my profile on your way to the poll, and oh, I am now accepting beta requests! HAPPY NEW YEAR, MY PRETTIES!**

**xoxo-**

**Maggie & the Gang  
**


	5. Chapter 3, finally

**AN: It. Has. Been. EONS since I updated this thing, and I aplogize! I've had an UNBELIEVABLY impossible-to-deal-with case of writer's block, possibly even the worst case ever known to man through out the entire history of the whole universe, and I just COULD NOT get past this one part, no matter what I did with it, but I FINALLY figured it out! So, please forgive me, my pretties, and don't murder me! *hides under desk w/ Elphie wand to use as protection***

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but a short attention-OOOOH, SHINY OBJECT! *chases it*  
**

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Chapter 3

_How ever in the world did I come to this,_ Elphaba thought, _admitting such a thing to the girl whose house killed my sister, who stole Nessa's shoes right off of her dead body!..._ She sighed mentally and shook her head. _Something so personal...Oh, who am I kidding?...I have nothing left to lose in this world. _

_I have no living relatives left, the man I always looked up to in my youth turned out to be a lying, cheating, dirty con-man of a villain, the only friend I've ever had in life has turned on me, the man I love...I _know_ he's not dead, but from what he's told me about what's happened since I last saw him, he might as well be! I'm probably going to be dead myself soon, anyway._

Another mental sigh. _What the heck? I may as well get it all off my chest before I go rot and burn in hell. _"Are you okay?" Dorothy was saying. Elphaba shook her head weakly. "Not really, no." She sighed out loud his time. Deeply, in near exasperation. "I'm sorry, I just...Like I said, I've been through a lot recently...

"These past few years have been extremely rough. I've lost several people that I loved very much, and not just to death..." She trailed off, sadly shaking her head, her gaze distant, as if she wasn't really in the room with Dorothy, but rather somewhere else, somewhere...far away, somewhere happier, perhaps the past.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Dorothy asked, slowly moving closer on her hands and knees. "I'm here, and I'm willing to listen..._Ready_ to listen. I'm curious, I wanna learn more about you. I won't push you or try to make you talk about anything you don't want to, but...if you _do _want to, I'd love to hear about you, your life..."

Elphaba gazed in wonder at the girl. "Nobody has ever willingly listened to what I have to say, let alone believed any of it, or even asked me to talk about it...Well, nobody except..." She shook her head. "No," she said, "no. I promised myself I would try not to think about either of them if I can help it, and I'm going to at least make an _attempt_ to keep that promise and hold true. I said I would hold myself to it, and that's what I'm going to do."

* * *

She took a deep breath and let it out. By now, Dorothy had crawled across the entire distance between them and was now sitting near Elphaba's chair in front of the right front leg of the thing. True, the floor was hard and dirty, but she didn't care. She just wanted to learn more about this oddly fascinating woman who she suddenly had a soft spot for in her heart.

"You know, you really aren't all that bad. Certainly not what everybody makes you out to be. In fact, you don't seem any more evil or wicked than my dog is-though I do admit that he can be kind of annoying sometimes," she shrugged, "but that's just Toto. To me, it seems like you're just lonely and misunderstood."

Elphaba nodded, her lips pursed. "It's...Elphaba...is that right?"

"Yes. Elphaba Thropp. And you're right. I am lonely. And I've been misunderstood and shunned since the day I was born." Dorothy moved some hair out of her wide doe eyes. "You don't have to talk about the sad parts, if you want. You can just skip those and talk about the happier times. Besides, I'm mostly curious about Fiyero, anyway. What's he like?"

Elphaba smiled. "He's amazing. You saw the picture of him, didn't you? The one I had earlier?" When Dorothy nodded, she continued. "We met in college. Didn't like each other much at first, mind you. Annoyed the crap out of me, to tell the truth. But he's changed since then, he's a lot more mature now.

"Anyway, he...Fiyero is actually a prince, believe it or not." Dorothy's eyes widened and her face lit up. "Really?" she asked. Elphaba nodded. "Prince Fiyero Tiigelaar, Crown Prince of the Arjikis, leading tribe of the Vinkus. Of course, that was before he was labeled a traitor after running away from his somewhat forced engagement with Oz's most adored bubble queen, Lady Glinda, more commonly known as Glinda the Good."

"He ran away from being engaged?"

"To be with me. Then, of course, there's also the matter of him 'convincing' the Gale Force to release me so that I could escape and then risking his own life and giving himself up for capture in my place." She shook her head tiredly. "His parents have probably officially disowned him by now. That is, if they haven't just fallen over and died of utter shame." She laughed lightly, but there wasn't really any humor in the sound. It was more like she was reliving an amusing moment in her past.

"Why the air quotes around 'convinced?'" Dorothy asked. "Oh..." Elphaba smiled weakly and shook her head. "He didn't really _convince_ them so much as he came swinging in on a rope with a rifle pointed at the soldiers and yelled 'Let the green girl go!' Then, when they wouldn't let go of me, he turned the rifle on Glinda and once more demanded that they let me go, or, and I quote, 'explain to all Oz how the Wizard's guards watched while Glinda the Good was slain.'" Her smile faded and she sighed. "That was the last time I saw him before..." Elphaba trailed off, shaking her head. "Oh, I could go on forever about him, he just-"

She stopped and her smile vanished instantly. "Did you hear that?" she asked. "Hear what?" The green girl put a finger to lips. Dorothy cocked her head and listened. Elphaba's eyes narrowed suddenly. "Wait a second..." she muttered. "That sounds like...One minute, Dorothy."

She stood up and made her way to a darker corner of the room. Dorothy had a hard time making out her shape, but it was there. Elphaba said something in a strange language Dorothy'd never heard before and there was a brief flash of purple light from the corner. She heard Elphaba gasp. There was another brief flash, then Elphaba reappeared. "Excuse me for a moment, it seems I have another visitor," she said as she left.

* * *

After she changed into something more decent-a beautiful gown made of midnight blue crushed velvet and embroidered taffeta with beads and sequins stitched into it and corset style lacing in the front and back-and pulled her hair into a bun on the back of her head to get it off her neck, Elphaba rushed into the main foyer. She froze dead in her tracks at the top of the grand staircase, her eyes wide. Yes, there she was. Her new guest.

"You!" she cried. The petite blonde in the middle of the room turned. Her blue eyes grew wide. "Elphie!" Glinda said. "Oh, thank Oz, Elphie!" As Glinda started to move forward, Elphaba descended the staircase. She stopped at the bottom. "Elphie, I thought I'd never see you again!" Glinda hugged her, but Elphaba made no move to return the gesture.

She waited for Glinda to pull back, and when she did, her face was confused. "Elphie, I...I don't understand...What's wrong?" Elphaba forced herself to remain expressionless. "Please...Don't call me that," she said. "What? Elphie?"

"Yes. It brings back too many painful memories. Please just...don't." She could tell Glinda was still confused, but she complied, nonetheless. "Alright...Elphaba..." The green girl knew that her entire name was almost like a foreign word to the blonde. Glinda hardly ever used her real name, not since college, at least. Ever since the night she'd tried to make her popular, she'd been Elphie to the smaller woman.

No more.

No less.

Just Elphie.

_Always _Elphie.

"Well...What's wrong?" Glinda asked again. "What are you doing here?" Elphaba questioned, trying to keep her face an unreadable mask. "I just...I was worried about you, Elphi-I mean...Elphaba...The Witch Hunters are almost here and I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I mean, you're out here in this huge, empty castle all by your lonesome, and..."

"I'm not alone, Glinda. I have Chistery and the other Monkeys to keep me company. They make good companions, despite not being able to speak. And even if I was alone, I know how to keep myself occupied. Solitude is practically my life story." She didn't say anything about Dorothy.

Glinda cocked her head slightly, her blue eyes filled with concern. "If you say so..." There was a pause. "You look beautiful, Elphaba," Glinda said after a moment. "That dress is lovely, and blue is a good color on you."

"Thank you. I was in my gown and robe when you got here, so I just changed into the first decent thing I saw."

It was difficult for her to remain this distant and formal with Glinda, but Elphaba was determined not to show any weakness, especially not in these last few fatal hours or so before the Witch Hunters arrived. She noticed suddenly that there was moisture in Glinda's eyes.

"Glinda," she said, "are you...crying?" The blonde shook her head. "No...but I will be soon if you don't tell me why you're acting this way..." When Glinda said that, Elphaba felt her heart break into a million pieces. Her mask suddenly fell to the floor and shattered like broken glass. Tears welled up in her own eyes.

She wrapped her arms around the woman she had always thought of as her soul sister, pulling her close and hugging her. "I'm scared, Glin," she admitted as the tears over-flowed. "I'm scared I'll never get to see Fiyero again, and I'm scared that the Witch Hunters are going to kill me. Oz, Glinda, I've never been more terrified in all my life, I just don't know what to do!"

"Oh, Elphie!" The two women stood there at the bottom of the staircase with their arms around each other, crying into each others' shoulders, each trying to bring comfort to the other. "Glinda, I've been horrible to you. You never deserved to be treated that way, and I feel like a monster...Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course, Elphie. I never blamed you to begin with. You had every right to be angry with me, I shouldn't have given the little girl Nessa's shoes to begin with, at least not without your permission. They weren't mine to give, I don't know what got into me! I...I suppose that maybe I thought, well...that since you had taken Fiyero away from me, it was only fair that I take something from you, but now I realize..." Glinda shook her head. "He was never mine to begin with. He was yours, all along, and I was just too stupidly blind to see what was right in front of me the whole time."

Elphaba pulled back and looked at her friend in confusion. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Well, after you were declared a wicked witch, when I went back to Shiz, Fiyero, he...he was just never the same after that day. He was more hesitant to kiss me, more reluctant to show any kind of affection, he just...it was like his heart just wasn't in it anymore. He wasn't himself, he became an entirely new person. He started devoting more time to his studies, didn't party as much, and as for alcohol, he all but abandoned it."

She sighed and shook her head. "He was shocked when he found out about the engagement, but not in the way I'd hoped for. I had been hoping it would be a good kind of shock, a happy kind, but now that I really look back on that day, it was more of a...slightly horrified, almost panicked kind of shock. I was just too obliviously happy to notice at the time, too..."

She paused, searching for the right word. The girls looked at each other, smiles slowly spreading across their faces. Then they said in unison, _"...Blonde." _And with that, they both burst into giggles.

"I should probably be going before people start to wonder where I am and panic," Glinda said once they'd both calmed down. Her eyes grew concerned again. "Elphie, are you sure you'll be alright? I mean, I know you have the Monkeys, but even so, this castle is huge and empty. It's got to get lonely _sometimes,_ doesn't it?"

Elphaba shrugged. "A bit, but I'll manage. If you happen to see the Witch Hunters on your way back to the Emerald City, do me a favor, will you?"

"Of course, Elphie, what is it?" Elphaba couldn't help the wry grin on her face as she said, "Give Boq a good denting for me, will you? Beat some sense into 'im, make him see the truth about what happened." Glinda smiled. "I'll do my best," she said. And it was on that happy note that the girls parted.

* * *

**AN: Yeeees, I'm aware that she changed into the gown and robe in like the last chapter, but I found a picture of THE most beautiful medevil style gown online while I was searching for inspiration for one of Elphie's outfits in a different story that I don't have published yet, and I just HAD to use it! Seriously, it looks like something out of a Disney fairytale times ten, I just couldn't resist! I had to share its beauty with the world, and therefore, I am going to post a link to it on my profile along with the links to the night gown, robe (also called a dressing gown), and the drawing that inspired the story. **

**Also, if you ever go and click the links to these things, I would like you to tell me in your review and let me know what you think of them, because when I picked out these particular clothes, I was really aiming for that old-fashioned kind of thing to kind of go along with the clothing that I envision people wearing in Oz. In my head, I always picture Ozian clothes as leaning more towards vintage things from various specific time periods. One of those time periods is the Victorian era, as well as the middle ages/medevil/rennissance eras, and every now and then I'll also throw in the occasional Edwardian-inspired garment. **

**Anyway, I just really wanna know what you guys think of the clothes I pick out; do they work with those particular eras and time periods, or should I start trying to find something else that more closely resembles that era's fashion? That sort of thing. And if you know of any sites that have pictures of that sort of thing, please let me know, I'm constantly on Google looking for more pictures of this stuff, including shoes and mens' tunics. **

**Thank you, and again, sorry for the delay in updates! I also apologize for my rambling, I'll stop now.**

**xoxo,**

**Maggie (who could really use a bit of Alice Cullen's fashion expertise right about now)  
**


	6. Chapter 4, yay

**AN: Alright, first off; GoodWitchesofOz, that is an interesting idea. Maybe I'll have her wear something of Fiyero's that he's got stashed away somewhere in the castle! Also, to my (literal) anonymous reviewer (who left their comment under "No name"), here is something for you; thank you, I'm glad you like it! I am aware of...you know who in the book, I've read it multiple times, and, OZ, GIRLFRIEND (i'm going to assume your female)! HOW'D YOU FIGURE IT OUT SO FAST? Congratulotions on being the first person to guess Elphaba's mystery sickness! How 'bout a big round of applause, folks? *audience claps* I'm impressed!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the attention span of a squirrel...sometimes even that of a-OOOH, LOOK, PINECONES! 8D  
**

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Chapter 4

Dorothy looked up when she heard the door open. Elphaba came back in wearing an elegant midnight blue gown. _She looks like a princess in that dress,_ Dorothy thought. _Really once you get past the color of her skin, she's as beautiful as one, too. And I suppose that if things had worked out for her in a way that let her marry Fiyero, she _would_ be a princess. _

"I'm sorry, Dorothy, I just...had a score I needed to settle with an old friend." Upon looking at her a bit more closely, Dorothy realized that something about her made Elphaba seem more...at peace than she was before. She seemed more relaxed, her muscles less tense.

"You seem different," she commented as Elphaba sat down. The green girl smiled and cocked her head, resting her chin against her hand. "How so?" she asked. Dorothy thought for a moment about how to put it into words. "I dunno, you just seem..._happier_ than before you left." Elphaba gazed into the distance momentarily as she fiddled with her pendant.

She bit her lower lip before speaking. "Let's just say that I was finally able to clear the air with an old close friend of mine. I asked forgiveness for the things I've done she blamed me for, and we agreed that even though there was definitely blame to share, none of it seemed to matter anymore."

As she listened, a few things suddenly occured to Dorothy. One, she remembered, all of a sudden, the woman who had appeared when Dorothy and Toto had first emerged from the crashed farm house, the one who had been in a giant bubble and asked if Dorothy was a good or bad witch. What had she said her name was? Glinda something? Yes, Glinda the Good, that was it.

She also recalled Elphaba saying earlier that Fiyero had "run away from his somewhat forced engagement with Oz's most adored bubble queen, Lady Glinda, more commonly known as Glinda the Good."

Dorothy found herself wondering if the Glinda that Fiyero had been engaged to was the same one who'd greeted her when she arrived in Oz. After all, Elphaba had called Glinda the Good a "bubble queen," hadn't she? And the Glinda the Good that Dorothy met had actually been _inside_ a giant bubble with about a million more small ones in the air around her.

Dorothy also remebered the first time she'd seen Elphaba; the puff of red smoke, the magical disguise that made her look more like a storybook witch than the beautiful young woman sitting before her right now. She remembered looking at the Glinda who had been there and seeing a brief flash of some emotion on her face before she composed herself and confronted Elphaba.

What had that emotion been? Dorothy suddenly wanted to know. At the time, she'd thought nothing of it, thinking perhaps it was shock at the arrival "Wicked Witch." But now, Dorothy couldn't help but wonder if, perhaps, Glinda had known more about Elphaba's background story than she'd let on, and maybe, just _maybe,_ the emotion that had flashed on her face had been not shock, but something else entirely.

"...Elphaba?" she said after going over all this in her head. "Yes?"

"Remember how you told me that Fiyero broke off an engagement with somebody named Glinda the Good?" There was a slight hesitance before the older woman replied.

"Yes..."

"And, remember the woman who was there the first time we ever saw each other, when you had your disguise on? The blonde one in the pale blue dress with a tiara?"

"Yes..."

"Well, the woman with the tiara...she said that _she's_ Glinda the Good, and I was just wondering...is it the same Glinda, or is there more than one?" Dorothy looked up to see Elphaba staring down at her lap, smiling to herself as if she was having a pleasant thought or fond memory. "Yes," she said, "it's the same Glinda. Why do you ask?"

Dorothy shrugged. "I just realized that maybe they were the same person and I was curious, that's all." Elphaba laughed lightly. "Trust me, the only way there could ever be more than one Glinda the Good is if somebody was impersonating her, and believe me when I say that anyone doing _that_ would face very severe consequences if they were ever caught."

Dorothy grinned upon hearing a genuine laugh from Elphaba for the first time. "And there's one other thing, too," she added. "Oh? What's that?" Elphaba asked.

"Well, when you showed up after I met Glinda, right before she started speaking to you, I noticed something flash across her face. At first I thought she was just surprised you had shown up, and I didn't really think about it. But, now I can't help but wonder if maybe she knows more about you than she let on, and whatever flashed on her face wasn't surprise, maybe it was something else."

For a moment, Elphaba said nothing. Dorothy studied her face. She was chewing her lower lip, and her expression suggested that she was debating how to reply to Dorothy's statement. Finally, she said, "You're very perceptive, Dorothy, did you know that?" She looked at her. "These observations you make...You notice things...things that nobody else notices...Don't you?"

Dorothy nodded. A half-smile crept onto Elphaba's face. "You'd make a good investigator. Or an investigative reporter, even. You kinda remind me of a friend I had in college." She bit down on her lip again, her head cocked to one side as she nodded slowly. "I noticed that something flash across Glinda's face, too," she said.

"And if you'd been paying just a little more attention, you would've also noticed that same something go across my face, as well," she added after a moment. "Hurt," she said. "Pain. Loss. Even a bit of suffering." If there was one thing Dorothy had expected, it would not have been any of those.

* * *

**AN: ...I'M SORRY ABOUT ALL THE REFERENCES TO "FOR GOOD," I COULDN'T RESIST! There's gonna be a flashback next chappie (not telling you who has it (you probably already know) or how far back into that person's past it goes!) and also, Elphie will be kind of rambling a bit (although Dorothy kind of asked for her to. she doesn't mind. i hope you won't either). Elphie does a lot of reminiscing next chapter. Also, I'm thinking about throwing in a chapter about what's happening with Fiyero every now and then. Maybe every two, three, four chappies? Please let me know about the clothing stuff, remember, guys!**

**xoxo,**

**Maggie & the Gang**

**PS: The "friend from college" Elphie mentions is Liiku Thriggs, who is IchikoWindGriffin's OC. He's the main character in "Written in Red," which I HIGHLY suggest, Ichi did an amazing job with it.  
**


	7. Yet another AN, gawd I need to shut up!

**AN: Okay, remember how I said before that Elphie takes a little stroll down Memory Lane in the next chapter? Well guess what? I lied! lmao, not really. Originally, I _was_ going going to have it be _the_ chapter, you know, where Dorothy starts to really get into things and her curiosity gets more intense, which would then give Elphie a chance to tell her most of, if not all of, the _entire _story and let Dorothy see it from both sides, which, in the end, will be a major contributing factor to the decision I'm going to have her ultimately make about who she's going to help, because this is all leading up to one big question: Does she continue what she started for the Wizard, or become a "rebel," (I use the " " because she's not a native Ozian, so technically it's not rebelling in her case) and join Elphaba's rag-tag team of renegade Animal supporters?**

**Anyway, to return to the original topic, yes, I was originally planning on using the next chapter to bring Dorothy up-to-speed on _Elphie's _side of the story-what, to us, is the _true _story-but with the way I had it planned out in my head, it would basically be like if somebody (in this case Dorothy) had never seen the musical and someone who _has_ seen it (here, that would be Elphaba) was telling them, "Okay, this is what happens in the entire thing, beginning to end." And when I was about halfway through typing it, I suddenly realized, "Okay, wait a minute, I need to stop and think about what I'm doing here. Because what I've got so far is basically like a blind person who wants to 'see' the show being told about the entire thing. Most of the people who are going to read this have probably already seen the musical at least once. Are they really gonna wanna sit here and read what is basically the plot synopsis for the entire musical being told in first person? No, probably not. I need to rethink my strategy for this chapter."**

**Then I remembered something; In the end-chapter AN of the last chapter, I mentioned to you guys that I was considering having a chapter where we got to see how Fiyero is holding up every now and then, and just sort of catch up with how he's doing so far. You may or may not remember this, and it's fine if you don't. Anyway, all of a sudden, I was just like, "Wait a minute...Why not just go ahead and do this, instead? It not only gets the next chapter posted and takes care of the plot synopsis problem, but it also makes for an interesting chapter, what with getting to see Fiyero's acting skills and finding out if he's good at lying on the spur of the moment and everything, and it might also give me a chance to finally debut the tribal language I've been working so hard on! It's perfect!" So, that's what I did.**

**The tribal language, by the way, deserves an explanation. Those of you who have read my parody, "Maggie's Insanely Twisted Wicked Parody," know-but may not necessarily remember-that in the 4th chapter, "Sticks, Carts, and Popularity," which shows up as the 5th due to AN chapters, at one point I wrote "Not going to parody this bit of dialogue, it's one of my favorite parts, so deal with it, _dashnas!"_ and then, at the end of the chapter in my AN, told you that if you were wondering what a _dashna _is, to be patient because it would show up in the next few chapters or so. But, it never did. I apologize for this, I completely forgot about it. However, you will now have to wonder no more! **

**You see, in several stories that originated in my trusty binder, Tomb of Doom, or "ToD" for short, and ToD Jr. (I actually have 2 of those binders), I have been hard at work creating an entire language completely from scratch. This language is (my version of) the (nonexistant in the novel(s) or play) native language of Fiyero's people. **

**Those of you who have read the novel Wicked know this already, but Fiyero is not the prince of the _entire _Vinkus. There are 3 different tribes, or clans, that live there: the Arjiki, the Yunamata, and the Scrow. The Yunamata are not very civilized. The Arjiki clan is the most powerful and civilized of the three, followed in second place by the Scrow, and is basically what you would call the "ruling tribe" of the Vinkus. Fiyero is the prince of the Arjikis. So, yes, he _ is_ a prince and he _is_ from the Vinkus, but to be more specific, he is the Crown Prince of the Arjiki clan (or tribe, if you prefer). This is also why he has the blue diamond tattoos; they're an Arjiki tradition.**

**Anyway, this language I've been working on is basically a native language for the Arjiki people, the "tribal language," so to speak. I will be creating a new story that is not actually a story, but a guide on how to speak and read this language, so be on the lookout. And, to answer the original question of what a _dashna_ is: _Dashna_ is the Arjiki word for "bitch." _Velspa dashna_ is "son of a bitch." So, in the parody, I basically said, "Not going to parody this part cuz it's one of my favorites, and if you don't like it, then just deal with it, bitches!" **

**And, yes, I do make these words up from almost nothing with little to no inspiration from any real languages, in case you were wondering. (Though now that I think about, I might have unconsciously made it sound a bit Italian without meaning to...)**

**-Maggie the Master of Languages XP XD  
**


	8. Chapter 5 at long last!

**AN:I know it's suckishly short, and I apologize, but I REALLY REALLY wanted to end the chapter with the particular sentence I used, it was just PERFECT! Please just bear with me here, we start getting into the really good stuff next chapter, so PLEASE DON'T MAIM/KILL ME! *cowers under desk w/ the Gang*  
**

* * *

A solitary figure stood atop a rocky bluff, a longing gaze cast at the huge stone castle that loomed, dark and intimidating, against the midnight sky. The western-most tower was a dark silhouette against the Jackal Moon, making the scene all the more eerie, but in a way that, to the lone person, just made it all the more beautiful.

The figure glanced over its shoulder at his two companions. They were both fast asleep next to the dying embers of the fire, one of them snoring lightly and twitching in his sleep. The figure smirked, satisfied that things were going the way he'd hoped.

Turning, he quietly made his way around them, being extra careful to avoid the smoldering remains of the fire. With one last glance at them, just to sure he hadn't woken them, he turned and started through the forest.

With luck, he'd be long gone by the time either of them woke up, hopefully far enough ahead that they wouldn't be able to find him, or even guess where he was going-and more importantly, what he was doing.

* * *

He was able to reach his destination in record time, only an hour. Now the castle was right in front of him, looming high above his head against the dark sky. All he had to do was find a way in. Perhaps he could find one of the secret entrances he knew were scattered around the outside. It was only a question of finding the hidden door to one of them.

As he ran his hand along the side wall, he noticed a loose stone. He furrowed his brow and fiddled with it, trying to get it loose. After a moment or two, he heard the sound of stone grinding against itself and the rock he'd been fooling with rotated to one side.

It sank into the wall, leaving a hole in its place, which continued to grow until it became a doorway. Grinning smugly to himself, he entered it. After about twenty minutes of walking, he came to a spiraling marble staircase. He was standing at what might have been the half-way point of it, as the steps vanished into the darkness both above _and_ beneath him.

_"Velspa dashna," _he whispered when he saw how many there were. _"Kava shikae jale ven..."_

Sighing mentally, he mounted the stairs and began the journey up. He climbed for what felt like ages before reaching the top. He followed a short path before coming to a heavy wooden door. He pulled it open and found himself behind a panel of wood.

He put his eye up to a small knot-hole in the wood and peered through, only to find himself looking into a room with several strange looking objects in it. He chuckled lightly, recognizing the objects. "Figures she'd pick the tallest tower in the whole place as her private domain," he muttered to himself. There was nobody in the room, so he felt along the edges of the panel until his fingers found a latch. He fiddled with it until it popped open and the panel slid aside and he stepped into the room.

He crossed his arms, sighed deeply (but in a somewhat happy way), and looked around, grinning crookedly.

Fiyero Tiigelaar was home.

* * *

**IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ! Didn't I promise you a Fiyero chapter? n_n SQUEEEE, THEY'RE ABOUT TO BE REUNITED! I need to get to work on the next chapter! They're gonna speak in the Arjiki language, and there's gonna be kissing, and singing, and MAGIKFIAH! and did I mention kissing already? I did? Too bad! Kissing, kissing, kissing...**

**Bonus points if you know what that's based off of! ;P**

**So, whattya think of the tribal language so far? If you have any ideas for new words, send 'em in when you review (you know you want to...come on...the little button down there is calling you...it says, "come and push me! please push me, i need to be pushed!" Do not deny the button! It knows where you live and it has a machete!) and I might just decide to use them! Just be sure to tell me what it translates to. Also, that upcoming guide has a name now. "The Arjiki Tribal Language for Dummies." Why? B-CUZ I COULDN'T RESIST! XP**

**In the meantime, here are the translations for what's in this chapter and how to pronounce them.**

**_Velspa dashna-_I explained this in the recent AN chapter, but in case you didn't read/see or forgot, it means "son of a bitch," with _dashna_ being "bitch." It's pronounced "vel-sp-uh dah-sh-nuh."**

**_Kava shikae jale ven-_"Hold out for me." _Ven_ is "me," which will be appearing again in the future since it's a very commonly used word. Pronounced "Kah-vuh shee-kae jah-lay ven." The "kae" in _shikae_ is easier than you might think; it's basically "Fae" with the "F" replaced by a "K." That "ae" pronunciation appears in a lot of words in this language, so keep that in mind.**

**xoxo,**

**Maggie the Master of Languages XP**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Fiyero's native language.  
**


	9. Chapter 6

**AN: What's this? Can it be? An _update?_ Shocking, I know. I'm so sorry I haven't updated, I've been so busy lately! I started on a program called HomeBound, which is basically school at my house. No, not home schooling, this is different because a teacher actually comes to my house and brings work that my teachers up at the school have given her. She's really awesome. Her name is Mrs. Villgas (pronounced vee-ey-guhs. "ey" as in "hey"), and she's lots of fun. She has 5 daughters and the youngest is just about my age, in 8th grade like I am. Anyway, I put all my stories except this one and my parody on hiatus until further notice because I just have way too many going all at once and I can't keep up with them, let alone make sure they each get updated on a regular basis, especially now that I've got HomeBound going on top of all the other stuff that keeps me busy. The reason I left my parody off of hiatus is because I'm almost done with it (68 reviews so far! just need 42 more until we reach that 100 mark! c'mon, guys, help me out here, i know you want that prize!), so I figured that one would be okay, and this one was left off hiatus because, like I've said before, I am DETERMINED to have this be one of the (few) stories I (ever) finish, and I want to focus on it ASMP (As Much As Possible, sort of like ASAP). So, without further ado, ladies and germs, I am proud to present the chapter you've all been waiting for...THE REUNION CHAPTER!**

**Love and hugs,**

**Maggie & the Gang  
**

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Elphaba sat on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chest, staring into the flames. She and Dorothy had both started to get tired, as well as cold, so she'd gone to change into something more comfortable-this time choosing a pair of Fiyero's pants and one of his button-down shirts instead of her own nightgown or a chemise-and when she came back, she made a fire in the fireplace at the far end of the room. She'd also brought a several blankets and pillows into the room and they'd piled them up in front of the fire so they would have a soft place to lay down.

They'd both fallen asleep around midnight, but Elphaba had woken up just a few minutes ago. She had one of the blankets wrapped around her thin shoulders. She shivered and pulled it closer to her body. She clutched her pendant, eyes moist, and began to absently hum the special song that she shared with Fiyero. _Their_ song.

Suddenly, Elphaba heard noise in the hallway-and it didn't sound like one of the Monkeys, either. She furrowed her brow in confusion and looked over her shoulder. But then it stopped.

Had she imagined it? She listened for a moment, trying to see if it would come back. When it didn't, she came to the conclusion that her ears had been playing tricks on her, or perhaps it was just the wind, coupled with her own imagination, that was all, and turned back around, picking up in her humming where she'd left off. After several minutes, her eyelids grew heavy. She laid down, resting her head next to Dorothy's, and let herself drift in and out of consciousness.

* * *

Fiyero opened the door just a crack, hoping he would have more luck in this room than he had with the last few. Huge as Kiamo Ko was, there were only so many places a person could hide, even if that person _was_ Elphaba. She had to be around here somewhere, and he knew that if he just kept looking, he'd find her eventually. So that's exactly what he did.

He peered in and almost immediately, his eyes were drawn to the far end of the room by a flickering light. There was a fire in the hearth, and this was what had caught his eye.

He pushed the door open just enough for him to squeeze through, then shut it quietly and took a better look around. There were blankets and pillows on the floor in front of the fireplace with two lumps that must've been people-either that, or two of the winged Monkeys that had adopted Elphaba as their mistress, which he doubted was the case-asleep under some of the blankets.

Fiyero moved closer to the people/Monkeys to get a better look at them. Soon enough, he was able to tell that they weren't Monkeys, after all, they were human, just as he'd originally thought. They were both female, that much he could already tell. As he got closer, he could see that one of them was a young girl with brown hair and light roses in her cheeks. He scowled slightly at this one, recognizing her as that Dorothy girl he'd been stuck with-almost forcibly-the past few days.

His eyes moved to the other person, whose head was near Dorothy's, as if they had fallen asleep while sharing a special bonding moment together, or telling secrets. This person had the blanket pulled up high enough that, with the angle he was at, he couldn't see her face.

The only thing visible from where he stood was the wild tangle of ebony black waves and curls that had a silky shine in the dim firelight. He smiled, knowing he had found her. It vanished instantly, though, when he realized how exhausted she must've been to have fallen asleep in such a place.

"Oz, Fae," he whispered. "What the hell've you been _doing _to yourself?" Dorothy began to stir in her sleep. Fiyero's eyes widened. He knew that he couldn't let her see him. Only Elphaba could know he was there. He looked around frantically for a place to hide, but it was too late. Dorothy's eyelids fluttered and she woke up.

Before she could register that he was there, Fiyero moved around a corner and out of her sight, pressing himself up against the wall and trying to blend in with the shadows. "Wh-Who's there?" he heard Dorothy ask. _'Shit!'_ he thought. _'She must've seen movement or something!'_

"Hello? I know you're there. Show yourself, or else."

'_Or else what?'_ he silently retorted. '_You'll _whine_ me to death?' Pfft.'_ He rolled his eyes. She couldn't hurt a fly, not even if she wanted to. Nevertheless, he decided to humor her, if only to see the look on her face when she realized who it was.

She gasped as he stepped into view. "Scarecrow! I-I didn't know it was you, I...Wh-Where are Tin Man and-and Lion?" He smirked internally. He'd been right; the look was classic! It was something he knew he'd never forget.

"At the campsite we made awhile ago, sleeping. At least, they're still sleeping as far as I know."

"Why did you leave them behind?"

"I literally can't sleep, remember? I got bored and started wandering. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the castle. I found a secret entrance while I was poking around outside," he said, making the whole thing up on the spur of the moment.

Fiyero hadn't thought he'd need to have a cover story for why he had gone ahead of the Lion and Boq, so he hadn't bothered to think of one. Although the part about finding a secret entrance while poking around was mostly true. Lucky for him, he'd always had an active imagination. In fact, sometimes it was even somewhat _over-_active.

Something must've suddenly occurred to Dorothy, because her eyes became wide all of a sudden, and she grew frantic. "No," she said, shaking her head. "No, I won't let you!"

"Won't let me what?"

"Kill her!" Fiyero's eyes widened. He had certainly not expected _this, _of all things, to happen. Maybe some resistance from Elphaba when it came to accepting that it really was him and not some trick on the group's part, but _Dorothy_ actually _defending_ her, refusing to let her be killed? It was so shocking that he could almost feel the bolt of lighting hit when the jolt of surprise came.

"Uh...I..."

"No, I don't care what you say! I know that's what we came here to do, Scarecrow, but I just can't find it in me to let anybody hurt her! She's really not so bad once you get to know her, just lonely and misunderstood, and upset! She's grieving a lot of losses right now, and now that I know the whole story, I really don't blame her for losing her temper so easily!"

"I-"

"Did you know she's in love, Scarecrow? And he loves her back, so much that he even ran away from being engaged! And not only that, Miss Glinda is her friend, her _best_ friend, they've just been fighting recently, but they made up! _Please, _Scarecrow, don't hurt her, I-"

"Dorothy!" he said, cutting her off. She was rambling. He couldn't even get a word in edgewise, she was talking so fast. "What?"

"I'm not here to hurt her."

"...You...You're not?"

"No. I just wanna talk to her."

"...About what?"

"Uh...Personal business, just between the two of us."

He could tell she was unsure of whether she could trust him or not, so he held his hands up, showing his innocence. "Well...I guess it's okay..." Warily, she moved away from Elphaba, towards the corner he'd been hiding behind as he went the opposite direction, moving slowly and keeping his hands up so that Dorothy would still know he wasn't going to cause any harm.

"Wait," she said. Damn. He was almost there, too. "I know you keep a dagger hidden in your boot."

He looked at her in shock, one eyebrow raised and his mouth hanging open. "How-"

"I saw you using it when you thought nobody was looking. Take it out and put it on the table." Fiyero sighed. _'Sneaky little _dashna,' he thought. He put one hand on the table to steady himself as he put the heel of his left foot against his right knee.

He continued to move slowly so as not to startle Dorothy, or give her any reason to distrust him. Reaching into his boot, Fiyero slowly pulled the dagger out. The firelight glanced off the blade as he put his foot back on the ground. He stuck the tip of the blade into the wooden table and left it there, hilt pointed towards the ceiling and blade embedded in the wood.

After doing so, Fiyero turned around slowly and gazed at the tangle of ebony curls. He approached her quietly, afraid she'd wake and become fearful if she didn't recognize him. He wanted to do things gradually, in a way that would leave her with as little confusion as possible.

As he got closer, she started to stir in her sleep. She muttered something, but he couldn't make out what it was. He thought, though, that he'd heard his name, along with Glinda's. Her eyes clenched tightly, as if she were in pain. She shook her head and continued to mutter, then cried out as she suddenly woke up.

Her eyes frantically roved the entire room before landing on Dorothy, and finally, him. They grew wide, and the look on her face was fearful as she drew the blankets closer to her chest. He could see that she was wearing one of his shirts and couldn't help but mentally smile at this.

"Wha-What are you doing here?" she demanded, backing away from him, closer to the fireplace. "How did you get in here, what do you want?"

"Fae," he said softly, "it's me. It's Fiyero."

"LIAR!" They both turned to look at Dorothy in shock.

"No you're not!" the brunette accused. "She told me about Fiyero, he's a prince! He ran away from an engagement because he loved her, I even saw a picture of him! He's got brown hair and brown eyes and he's...well..._human!"_

Elphaba's eyes were red and moist with fresh tears that threatened to spill over when he looked at her again. _"Fallah,"_ he said. Maybe if he spoke in the tribal language, she'd have an easier time believing him. They were both fluent in it, but the only time either of them ever really used it was with each other when they shared intimate moments. Hell, he had been the one to teach it to her when she'd first shown interest in college.

"_Fallah, tevel. Riannal, dashe kana_ _ven. Kahshav tava behan. Tevel." _

She stared-no, _glared-_at him harshly. "I don't know where the _hell_ you learned that language," she said, "_or _who told you about the name Fae, or even about Fiyero, but just let _me_ tell you something, and you had better listen realy closely, because I am not repeating myself..._Izaf van denavala kabe. Jehana. _Gavash_ netelav, Kav...Kav...Kav reveka van fashago avala van kesal gahyana!"_

As if to finalize the statement, she muttered a spell and some of the fire in the hearth flew to her hand, curling around the length of her arm like a snake. She clenched her fist and it was engulfed in flames. Starting at the top of her arm, working its way down to her clenched fist, the flames slowly became blue and green with small flecks of pink at the tips.

His eyes widened, but not because he was afraid of the fire. Because of the colors the flames had become. She'd told him once that she associated the color blue with him because of the blue diamonds tattooed onto his chest. And both of them had always associated the color pink with Glinda. And he and Glinda both associated the color green with Elphaba, which she was well aware of, he knew.

She had combined the three colors into a single thing. It was possible, he thought, that she meant for the colors in the flames to represent each of them, as if she were trying to symbolize how the three of them had touched each other's lives. If that was the case, had it been done on purpose, or was it just part of the spell that happened to be a huge coincidence?

He didn't have time to wonder, however, as Elphaba was giving him a murderous look. "Please," he said in a gentle voice, trying to reason with her, to get through to the logically thinking, intelligent, talented young girl from Shiz that he knew was still buried inside of her somewhere, even if she refused to let that side show.

"Just listen, at _least_ hear me out. You and I went to Shiz, we rescued a Lion Cub together, the day that Dillamond got taken away."

He stood and started to back away, just in case she accidentally made something explode-or worse (both of which he knew were major possiblities, considering how angry she seemed to be at the moment). She shook her head. "No," she said firmly as she stood up. _"Fiyero_ and I rescued a Lion Cub together the day that Dillamond was taken. _Fiyero_ and I went to Shiz. No matter what you say or do, no matter how much you may sound or act like him, how much you know about him, about _us,_ _YOU ARE NOT FIYERO!" _

The flames on her arm flared up. Thankfully, Fiyero was already a safe distance away.

"Please, I just-"

"GET OUT!" she screeched.

Fiyero wasn't going to give up that easily, though. He still had one card left to put into play, and he was going to do just that. Whatever it took to get his Fae back.

"I can prove that I'm Fiyero!" he said. "HA!" Elphaba said loudly, throwing her head back. "I'd like to see you try!"

"Fine. If you'll just give me one minute, I can prove to you that I really am him." She narrowed her eyes.

"You have _exactly_ sixty seconds, starting now. Go."

He used the one thing he knew would be able to get through to her, no matter how infuriated she was.

"_Maybe I'm brainless, maybe I'm wise, but you've got me seeing through different eyes. Somehow I've fallen under your spell, and somehow I'm feeling it's up that I fell!"_

He had seen her eyes soften the moment the first words left his mouth. The flames started to shrink. Just to be safe, though he kept going.

"_Every moment, as long as you're mine, I'll wake up my body and make up for lost time! Say there's no future for us as a pair, and though I may know, I don't care!"_

As he moved into the next verse, the flames disappeared altogether and he saw her lips begin to move, forming the words as he sang them, but no sound left her mouth. Yet. He planned on changing that.

"_Just for this moment, as long as you're mine, come be how you want to,"_

Her voice joined his at the very next word, and he knew; She believed him.

"_And see how bright we shine! Borrow the moonlight until it is through, and know I'll be here holding you, as long as you're mine!"_

Elphaba threw her arms around his neck and they embraced as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"I thought I'd never see you again."

"I told you; we'll be together always. Nothing will ever be able to change that."

She looked at him, and before either of them knew what was happening, they were kissing. When they pulled apart, she let her hand linger on his cheek, a sad look in her eyes. He knew why.

"You tried your best," he said. "You saved my life."

She smiled sadly. "You're still beautiful..."

"You don't have to lie to me." He cast his gaze downward.

"It's not lying." He looked up. Their eyes locked. "It's just looking at things another way."

He smiled, remembering when he'd been the one telling her the same thing not three weeks before.

* * *

**AN: Sooo? What'd ya'll think? Didn't it have everything I promised? Kissing, singing, MAGIKFIAH! and kissing, yah? n_n I got the idea of Fiyero using ALAYM to convince Elphie that it's him from 3Mindy3's AMAZING Fiyeraba one-shot, "One Short Night," which I highly suggest reading if you haven't, so credit goes to Mindy for thinking up that idea. It just sort of makes sense to me that after being apart for (around what I always assume would be about) three weeks, he would use their special song to make her realize that it really is him and she would regret it later if she blasted him to smithereens with her MAGIKFIAH! The thing about the different colors representing the three of them is something that really does apply to me in real life, though idk about the rest of you. So, anyway, I just felt compelled to put that in for whatever reason.**

**Fiyero's dagger does, in fact, have an accompanying picture link to it, which will, as usual, be posted on my profile if you'd like to see it. See, one time I was at the hospital where I'm getting treated for scoliosis with my mom and we were in the waiting room, right? Well, the Evil Movie of Doom and Lies, as I like to call it, because to me, that's what it is, was on, unfortunately. It really bothered and upset me at first, but then I realized something: There were all sorts of mistakes in there. I mean, these mistakes were so freaking stupid, it wasn't even funny, I swear! For example, in the Emerald City when they're outside the Palace waiting to go in and see the Wizard and the Lion gets to sing his song, you know how at the end of the song, they give him a pretend crown and stuff, then they all bow? Well, I noticed that Fiyero got down on his knees in front of Brr, and I was like, "Oh my freaking Oz, Mama, look! Fiyero shouldn't have to bow to him, he's a prince, for Lurline's sake! If anyone should be bowing to anyone, it should be the three of them bowing to _him!"_ So, we had absolutely the grandest time sitting there, pointing out all these mistakes and then laughing at them.**

**Anyway, there was this one that really stood out at me and kept bothering me and it just WOULD NOT leave me alone, because it was proabably THE stupidest one out of them all. Wanna know what it was? Fiyero had no weapon. Seriously. Like, Boq got an axe, and Fiyero gets nothing, for reals? And speaking of which, whose GREAT idea was it to give him that thing in the first place? The man has serious anger issues and cannot control his temper, he should not be allowed within a ten mile radius of sharp weapons of any kind! I mean, think about it! That's basically like going, "Okay! You, tin dude. Here. *hands Boq an axe* Have an axe. You can use it to get revenge on the girl who saved your life, okay? Okay, great! Bye bye now, have a nice day! *turns to Fiyero* You! Scarecrow! You get nothing, so I guess that means you can't defend yourself. Oh well, too bad. Bye-Oh! And by the way, before you leave, you should probably know that there's some insane homicidal dude made out of tin bent on getting revenge on your girlfriend, so...yeah. Good luck getting to her before he does! Have a nice day, bye!" I MEAN SERIOUSLY, WHO DOES THAT?**

**I thought that at the very LEAST, he could've had a dagger that he kept hidden in his boot or something! That way he could pull surprise attacks or something! So, anyway, yeah, that's where that idea stemmed from.**

**The "It's not lying" line is by far THE sweetest thing and I've always loved it, so I just HAD to include that, or I would DIE. Okay! Translation time!**

**_Fallah, tevel. Rinnal, vanhe kana ven. Kahshav tava behan. Tevel.-_"Fae, please. Listen, you've got to believe me. I'm telling the truth. Please." _Fallah _means "Fae," and I use that one quite a bit, so pay attention to how you pronounce it. It's pronounced "fall-uh." Remember that. _Tevel_ "please," is "te-vell," and _rinnal, _which is "listen," is pronounced the way it looks, as "rin-ahll." The next part, _dashe kana ven, _"you've got to believe me," is "vahn-ae kah-nuh ven." _Ka _is the base for everything including the pronoun "I," such as "I'm," "I'll," etc., and is pronounced exactly how it looks. The word itself, _Kahshav, _means "I'm telling," and since it includes the pronoun "I," it needs to always be capitalized. Some words in the language translate to more than one word, based on what its various parts are. This one, for example, is "I'm" and "telling" in one. _Kah _for "I'm," and _shav_ for "telling." It's pronounced "kah-sh-ahv." _Tava_ is "the," pronounced as "tah-vah," and the last word, _behan_ is "truth," said "bae-hahn," and is not to be mistaken for the word _beno, _which means "sweet."**

**_Izaf van denavala kabe. Jehana. _Gavash_ netelav, Kav...Kav...Kav reveka van fashago avala van kesal gahyana_** -**"If you don't get. Out_. This _instant, I'll...I'll...I'll set you on fire quicker than you can blink." _Izaf, _means "if," pronounced "iz-ahf." _Van _is "you" and is pronounced "vahn." It is also the base of words with meanings that include the word "you," such as "your," "you're," "you've," etc. Not to be confused with _ven. Devevala kabe, _"don't get," is said as "dehv-ahlah kah-bae." _Jehana _and _gavash_ mean "out" and "instant" and are pronounced "jeh-anah" and "gah-vah-sh." _Netelav, _"instant," is "neteh-lahv." The word _Kav_ is "I'll," and you can see how, once again, we get the "Ka" at the beginning, showing us that this word uses the pronoun "I" as its basis. Once again, this must always be capitalized because of this. _Reveka, _"set" is "rae-vae-kah," and _fashago,_ or "fire," is pronounced "fah-sh-ah-go." _Avala,_ meaning "quicker than," is another example of having multiple words in one. _Av _means "quick," or "quicker." _Ala _is "than," or, depending on the context of how it's used, "then." Put those together to get _avala,_ "quicker than," pronounced "ah-vah-lah." _Kesal _means "can," and is pronounced "keh-sahl." And finally, the word _gahyana _translates into "blink," or "to blink." Its root words are, _yana _meaning "having to do with the eyes," and _gah, _which is "having to do with or involving the eyelid." Based on that, we can conclude that the word itself probably has to do with blinking, something that we already know involves both the eyes and eyelids.**

**Wow, that one was long! Sorry! Ugh, I'll try to have ATLfD up ASAP!**

**Till next time, my pretties!**

**-Maggie & the Gang  
**


	10. Chapter 7

**AN: Oh, wow, I already finished one story on here, and now I'm only two chapters away from finishing this one! Just a heads up, it is VERY likely that I'm going to be making a sequal, though I haven't decided on a title yet. Oh, and Elphaba's mystery sickness is revealed next chapter, so the poll is about to come down. If you would like to cast a vote and haven't done so already, hurry in to do so while you still can, before it's too late, my pretties! **

**xoxo,**

**Maggie the Mad Majesty of Muchness n_n**

**PS: This is the next to last chapter, by the way. I told you I was determined to finish this one! When I completed the final chapter in ToD Jr., I was so proud of myself, and I said to my mother, "Mama, guess what, I finished WRH, just like I said I would! It's the first story I've finished since I wrote Fiyero's Essay, hooray!" Oh, "Fiyero's Essay" is a story I haven't posted yet. Very short, only 2 chapters and an epilogue, along with a little "Oh god, the situation's about to repeat" thingy and...Well, you'll see if I decide to post it. If I do, though, I have to post all 3 versions, lol! The actual story, the rough draft that Fiyero wrote by hand, and the final draft that he did on his typewriter and turned in to Dillamond.**

* * *

Dorothy was more shocked than she could ever remember being in her life, but she didn't have time to react. She was standing near the huge window, and saw something in the distance that made her blood run cold. "Uh, guys?" she said. "I hate to ruin the moment, 'cause believe me, I love sappy romantic reunions as much as the next girl, but I kind of think we _might _have a small problem here."

Elphaba joined her by the window. Dawn was just breaking on the horizon, painting the sky beautiful hues of pink, orange, and purple. "What do you mean?" the green girl asked. "I mean we've got an axe-wielding problem made out of tin with an agenda for bloody vengance being accomanied by three-fifty plus pounds of fur and sharp deadly teeth headed straight for us," Dorothy said blatantly, pointing at the very issue in question.

_"Shavna!" _Fiyero smacked himself. "I knew I should've gotten rid of that damn axe before I left! Why don't I ever listen to myself, I'm such an idiot!"  
"It's not your fault, love, he would've come even without it. What we have to do now is come up with a plan."

"Sic Chistery and Hahnai on 'em!" Dorothy said excitedly. She had met a small gaggle of Elphaba's Monkey companions a few hours prior and was no longer terrified out of her wits of them.

Fiyero shook his head as he took his dagger from where it was still embedded firmly in the wooden table surface and slid it back into his boot. "Boq is virtually immune to their attacks as long as he's made of metal. That and the axe are both a major advantage, and sending Monkeys after him would be like sending them on a suicide mission. The only ones who would be put at risk with that strategy would be Chist and Hahn themselves, they could be badly wounded or even killed by that damn axe."

"Oz, where the hell did he get that thing, anyway?" Elphaba asked nobody in particular. "He's developed some major anger issues and really does not need to be allowed within a ten mile radius of sharp objects, especially weapons."

"We need a battle strategy, and fast," Fiyero said. Elphaba sighed. "Well, then it's a good thing you're cut out for the task, Captain."  
"Captain?" Dorothy repeated questioningly. "Of the Gale Force, very briefly," Elphaba replied. "Remember the story earlier?"

"Oh yeah. So what _is _our battle strategy?" the brunette asked. Both girls looked at the scarecrow, who was deep in thought. He looked back at them after a moment. "I'm open to any suggestions you guys have, you know," he said.

"Sorry," Dorothy said, blushing lightly. She thought for a moment, then raised her hand. "Drop an anvil on his head!" she exclaimed. Fiyero held out his fist. "Yes, that is what I'm _talkin' _about! Gimme some!" Dorothy fist-bumped with him. "Okay, great," Elphaba said, "except where the hell do you two expect to find an anvil around here, exactly, huh?"

The other two looked at each other. "Yeah, that's what I thought."  
"I got i!" Fiyero shouted. "Boiling oil!"  
"Fiyero-!"

"No, listen! We can dump a huge bucket of it on him, it's a really effective military strategy for defending things like castles and forts, it's been in use for centuries, and it's actually really useful and most importantly, it _works!"_

Elphaba shook her head. "The intense head would melt him, Fiyero, and mentally unstable as he may be at the moment, somewhere deep down, he's still the Boq with that sweet, sunny disposition that used to be such a good friend to us both in college. I'm not about to do anything that would be the basic equivilant of killing him."

"Well, you got me on that one. But you have to admit, it was a pretty good idea."  
"Touche."

For several minutes, the three sat in silence as they thought. It was Fiyero who eventually broke the silence. "Fae," he said, "you wouldn't happen to have a way to get in contact with Little Miss Pretty-in-Pink, would you, love?"  
"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with-Oooh. I see where you're going with this."

Fiyero nodded. "Let's find out just how devoted he really is, shall we?"

"I don't get it," Dorothy said, looking back and forth between the pair as they exchanged knowing grins. "Dorothy," the green girl said, not taking her eyes from her lover. "How would you like to meet the _real _Glinda?"

* * *

**AN: Okay, I'm going to go straight back to the Document Manager and work on editing and revising the final chapter so that I can get it posted (I'm so excited!), but I do have to do the translation for the only Arjiki word in here, _shavna, _so I'll do that real quick. Oh, speaking of translating the tribal language, I've decided not to post The Arjiki Tribal Language for Dummies (ATLfD) after all, because it's such a complex language and there is absolutely no way in Ev (ten points and a giant cinnamon pretzel for anyboyd who can tell me where I got the phrase "no way in Ev!") that I will be able to fit it all into just one story/guide, let alone an entire series of volumes thicker than the thickest book ever written, though I've no clue what that would be (Encyclopedia Britannica? lmao, leave a review or PM me if you know, because I'm clueless, but now I've gone and gotten myself all curious and wondering!)**

**Anyway, I'll quit blibber-blabbering and give you that translation so I can go work on the final chapter. Here it is:**

_**Shavna: **_**"Shit!" ...That's all I have to say. O_o There aren't really any root words or anything for this one. It's just..."shit." O_e**

**xoxo, love ya'll, my pretties (lmfao, it totally shows that I'm an Oklahoma girl right there, doesn't it?)**

**-Maggie the Raven of Lenore**


	11. Chapter 8: Kava denego FINI

**AN: Elphaba's mystery sickness is at long last revealed! Okay, just so you guys know, it is kind of hidden in here, so see if you can find it before the end of the chapter, where I'm going to just come out and say it for those who couldn't, and kudos if you do! For those of you wondering, the final poll result is as follows: "I don't know" has 0% "She's ill" and "She's coming down with something" are tied at 7% with one vote each, "She's (majorly over)stressed" has 30% with four votes, and finally, in first place, with seven out of 13 total votes at 53% we have...*drumroll* "Something else entirely" **

**Oh, and did I mention there's a huge surprise at the end? No? Well there is, so no skipping ahead! You'll just have to read and find out like everybody else! Why? Because I'm evil like that, heehee! jk, jk, I just don't want you to spoil it for yourselves, that takes all the fun out of it. As Willy Wonka once said, "The best kind of prize is a SURprise, haha!" Oh, remember I said I'm ultimately going to have Dorothy choose whether to finish what she started for the Wizard or join Elphaba's rag-tag team of renegades? That choice changed to something a bit different since it's obvious to me that she's already chosen her side. You'll find out at the end what the new question is that she must answer. *winks* =)**

**Love and hugs for all of my pretties!**

**-Maggie the Nevermore Raven**

**PS: Get ready for like THE most epic spell in the history of the entire damn universe, people. To quote Dewey Finn from School of Rock: "It will blow your mind right out your ass!"**

**PSS: If Brr seems a little younger than he is in WoO, it's because I was sort of unconciously writing him as more of teenager when I did the rough draft, and when I was reading over it, I realized this and thought about fixing it, but then I decided I kind of liked it, so I figured I'd stick with it and see how it worked out and if you guys like it, I'll keep him that way in the sequal that I've started on.**

* * *

"Oh my sweet Oz, how shockamating! I never ever would have guessed!" was Glinda's reaction to learning Fiyero's true fate. She then proceeded to smack him, at which he just laughed. "Doesn't hurt a bit," he told her. "I'm nothing but straw and burlap, Glin, I can't feel crap!"

Dorothy and Elphaba snickered at the look on Glinda's face, only to begin "coughing" upon recieving the blonde's patented death glare.

A bit later that evening, Dorothy and Glinda, who had both gotten very little sleep that night compared to thier normal amount, both fell asleep while the quartet was waiting for the impending threat to arrive. Elphaba and Fiyero thought it was best not to wake them, figuring they would both need all the sleep they could possibly get for what was coming. The couple together (at a safe distance from the fire, for Fiyero's sake), elated to finally be together again after what felt to them like an eternity spent apart.

_"Yenah," _Elphaba whispered, resting her head agains Fiyero's chest. _"Yenah, Ka geyeno vavah sival cerena."  
"Vashava?" _

She leaned closer and whispered into his ear, _"Ka...Kava denego, Yeneah."_

Elphaba lay her head on his shoulder, giving him time to process her words and absorb what she'd told him. Finally, he spoke. _"Rava?"_  
_"Rava."_

She looked up, relieved to see him smiling. "How...How long? Do you know?" he asked. She smiled, too, but hers was more seductive. _"Ravash teva dala nevo teva shavnae rekan ganav naeano," _she said playfully, touching her forehead to his.

Her smile faded slowly. "I promise, Fiyero," she whispered, "that I will do everything I know how that is within my power to make you yourself again." He shook his head. "You don't have to do that, Fae. You've got so much on your plate, and I don't want to give you more burdens than you can handle."

"I'm not asking your permission, Fiyero," she said. "I am telling you what I fully intend to do, not because I feel obligated, but because I love you and I want to do it for you." He smiled. "I know. Once you make up your mind to do something, you won't stop until you get it done, but can you really blame me for trying? All the stress you're under right now...It can't be good for your health, or the-"

_BANG!_

Elphaba gasped, and Fiyero instinctively pulled her close to him. Dorothy and Glinda sat up, both of them instantly wide awake. "What was that?" Dorothy asked. Fiyero slowly released Elphaba. "Dunno," he said standing up. "But I'm gonna go find out." He pulled his dagger from his boot.

Elphaba grabbed his wrist. "No, not by yourself, I won't let you. If it's Boq..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "I just got you back, Fiyero, I'm not going to lose you again. Not like this."

_BANG!  
BANG!  
**CRASH!**_

"That sounded like a door being broken down," Dorothy said. Elphaba's eyes suddenly became vancant and distsant. "It is him..."

For a moment, a deathly silence fell over the group. Then Elphaba stood up. "Glin," the green girl said, taking both of her friends hands and holding them tightly in her own. "I know you've never been all that fond of him, but please, try to talk some sense into Boq. You're the only one who has any chance of getting through to the boy we knew in college and making him see just how out of hand this has gotten."

Glinda looked uncertain. "Please?" Elphaba said. "For me?"

The smaller woman deflated. "You and those words," she said, "are such a deadly, lethal combination." She sighed. "Fine. I'll see what I can do. But I can't promise anything."  
"I know."  
"You owe me big time for this, missy."  
"I know, Glin."

The blonde sighed again. "Well," she said, "here goes something."

* * *

Glinda made her way down the stairs in the ballroom that, back in the castle's glory days, had once allowed a princess to make a grand entrance to a party on the arm of her prince.

However, that had been ages ago, and all the splendor was gone, leaving behind just a large, gloomy room. Layers of dust now covered the once-gleaming marble steps and ornately carved spindles on the oak banister, which had once been smooth and polished and beautiful.

Years' worth of grime and filth coated the stained glass windows, preventing the early morning rays of sunlight from shining through and displaying the beautiful images depicted by the multi-colored panes of glass and giving the illusion of being inside a giant kallidescope as they once had.

It saddened Glinda to see the room this way, abandonded and empty, merely a hollow shell of what it once was, and deprived of the glorious magnificence that she knew it must have once held. Even the velvet tapestries suspended on the walls high above were so heavy with dust and dirt that they sagged and their rich, bright colors had faded to near grayness, giving everything an overall very depressing feel to it.

She shook her sadly, making a mental note to later slap Elphaba for not doing something to better mantain things. Or Fiyero (once he could feel things again, of course) for not making his parents hire a caretaker of some sort, if it turned out that Elphaba had found it that way when she first got there.

Glinda froze halfway down the stairs, positive that she had heard something. She tilted her head to one side and listened intently. After what felt like ages of standing as still as a statue, the noise came again. Closer, this time, and...Ah-ha.

She zeroed in on her target and everything around her seemed to vanish suddenly as her mind went into overdrive. "Boq," she whispered. "Boq," she said again, louder this time. "Boq!"

Now, she all but flew down the rest of the stairs, all the while saying his name. "BoqBoqBoqBoqBoq!" she cried, running to catch up with him and the Lion. _"Great, now I sound like a hen," _she thought. _"Or would that be Hen?..."_

"Glinda! What are you doing here, did the Witch kidnap you like she kidnapped Dorothy?"  
"Wha-Did she kid-No! No, I was most certainly _not _kidnapped by anyone, thank you very much!"  
"Then what-"

Glinda cut him off, grabbing his shoulders. "Boq, listen to me! I don't know what in Lurline's name has gotten into you, but you have got to stop this madness, _now!"_ Boq looked at her as if questioning her sanity a bit. "I...I'm afraid I don't follow," he said uncertainly.

Glinda's head flopped down momentarily, then she looked up with her eyes closed, a smile (a rather forced looking one at that, but still) on her face. "Let me put it this way," she said, a calmness in her voice that sounded somewhat forced. "If you do not stop trying to murder Elphaba with that thing of yours, I will personally see to it that you ARE TURNED INTO A GIANT PILE OF SCRAP METAL, CAPICHE?"

"Glinda!" a voice said from the stairs. Glinda turned around and groaned. "ELPHIE, I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STAY WITH DEEDEE AND FIFI SO THAT YOU WOULD BE-"  
"Glinda, volume!"  
"Damn it, Fiyero, not you too!"

Boq's eyes got wide. "No way in hell is that Fiyero!" he yelled. "News flash, Oil-for-Brains!" Fiyero yelled, spreading his arms out. "It's me!"  
"Fiyero, what the hell happened to you?"

"Same as you, I'd reckon," Fiyero said. "I was dying, so Elphaba did some of her voodoo magicky jazz and saved my sorry ass!"  
"That is not our Elphaba anymore, Fiyero!" Boq shouted furiously. "She's changed too much to be the same girl we knew in college!"

"I've changed, too!" Glinda said, joining the others on the stairs. "Does that mean I'm not the same girl you used to know back then?"  
"No, but-"

"What about me?" Fiyero demanded. "I've changed just as much as Glinda has! Am I not still the same guy from Shiz?"  
"Fiyero, you're as much of an idiot as you've ever been! You were a brainless jack ass then, you're a brainless jack ass now, and except for the fact that now you _literally_ have no brain, you're exactly the same, you empty-headed baboon face!"

"Then who's to say that it doesn't also apply to Elphie?" Dorothy shouted, leaning over the railing on the second floor above everybody else. Boq pointed an accusing finger at the fifteen-year-old girl. "Stay out of this, you little brat! It's none of your business!"

"It BECAME her business the moment her house was picked up by that Oz foresaken tornado, Boq, and you have absolutely no right to speak to her that way!" Elphaba yelled. "Great, so now you're on each other's side, is that it? You're ganging up on us, right? Fantastic! Brr, let's do what we came to do and get the hell outta here!"

Elphaba's mind began developing an idea almost instantly. She looked at the Lion. "Brr," she said. "Is that your name?"  
"Y-Yes...Please don't hurt me!"

"I promise I'm not going to, Brr. Most people don't know your real name, do they? Everybody calls you something that you never asked to be called." Brr nodded hesitantly. "I know how that feels. To most people, I'm just the Wicked Witch of the West. But that doesn't make it my name. No matter what, my name will always be Elphaba, and nothing can ever change that, just like nothing can change your name. You aren't just the Cowardly Lion, you'll always be Brr, but nobody knows that, and it sucks, doesn't it?"  
"It sucks rocks."

"It does, it sucks rocks! Completely, yes, and I know how that feels, believe me. And being made fun of is even worse, isn't it? Trust me, I know how that feels, too. I've had to put up with it every day of my life, even in my own house growing up."

Boq, who had somehow managed to stay silent until then, now interjected. "If you turn him against me, I swear, I'll-"

"You'll do nothing, and if you do, it'll be over my dead body! Now can it, you oversized tin can!" Fiyero yelled at him.

Elphaba kept going as if neither of them had spoken. "Brr, believe me, you don't know the _meaning _of what it is to be mocked until you've walked a mile in my shoes. I'll be honest with you, I've always had a connection with Animals, probably because most are outsiders, like me, and we understand each other. But I've never been able to relate to any the way I can relate to you, not before now. And to tell the truth, we really do need all the help we can get over here."

The large Cat looked at Boq, then Elphaba and her small rag-tag team. "She understands me," he said quietly. "You're just starting to scare me. Sorry." He made his way across the room and ran up the stairs to stand next to Dorothy. "You made the right choice," she said. "Trust me."

"Dorothy," Boq said, visibly struggling not to blow a smoke stack and go totally ballistic. "Do I need to remind you that you may be giving up your only chance of getting home?" Dorothy scowled at him"I've chosen my side!" she yelled. "At this point I don't care about getting home anymore, I just want Elphaba to get the justice that she and her sister both deserve, and I'll do anything I can to help make sure that she does!"

Glinda turned to Elphaba and asked somewhat retorhically, "Elphie, whattaya say we try out that spell that Morrible told us never to use unless it's an emergancy?" Elphaba pretended to think about it for a moment. "Well," she said, "this certainly does seem to fit emergancy standards." She shrugged. "Sure, let's give it a shot."

The girls went to the center of the room and stood at arm's length from each other, then joined hands. They looked at the ground and closed their eyes, starting to chant at a whisper, two voices becoming one, growing in volume each time they went back to the beginning, until finally, their voices reached full strength.

_"Eleka nahmen tatey av reh av reh eleka ditum. Eleka nahmen tatey av reh av reh eleka ditum. Eleka namen tatey av reh av reh eleka ditum..."_

After several repeats, their hair was swirling wildly around them. Their heads flew back suddenly, faces towards the ceiling high above them. Then, without any warning of any kind, their eyes snapped open, glowing an eerie purple.

Fiyero, Dorothy, and Brr stared at them in awe. "Fae..." the scarecrow whispered.

As if she could hear him, Elphaba spoke in a voice that echoed with that of Nessarose's and another that Fiyero didn't recognize, but assumed must have been her mother's. She said only two words: _"Stand back."_

That was the only warning any of them got.

An invisible force knocked Fiyero and the others back as a giant flash of blinding purple light filled the entire room, forcing them to shield their eyes and look away. The only clues provided as to what could have possibly been happening were the ungodly sounds of metal scraping against the floor, then against itself. There was an unearthly moan, followed by a bloodcurling scream of agony that made the hairs on the back of Dorothy's neck stand on end. Then a completely unidentifiable noise that was surely not of that, or any other, earth filled the air.

The utter silence that followed was completely deafening.

Fiyero was the first one who dared to slowly open his eyes and turn around.

Everything seemed more or less intact, as far as he could tell. Dorothy and Brr, who had come down the stairs when the girls began the spell, were huddled together on the ground, faces to the floor, ears covered, and Dorothy's head hidden beneath Brr's mane. Elphaba and Glinda were collapsed in a heap on the floor together, clearly drained almost entirely of near all their energy, but neither one appeared physically harmed.

The only one missing was Boq.

"No physical evidence of him..." Fiyero muttered under his breath. And it was true. Not even a scorch mark remained to suggest he had been blasted by lightning, perhaps, or any scrape marks to indicate, as the unearthly sounds had, that he had been dragged across the floor at one point. Even his axe was gone.

Elphaba moaned softly and Fiyero's attention was immediately drawn back over to her. "Fae!" He got up and rushed to her side. "Elphaba, love, can you hear me? It's Fiyero, say something." Dorothy and Brr approached from behind. "Are they alright?" she asked. "Try to wake up Glinda," he told her. Dorothy nodded. "On it," she said.

"Fae, it's me. Wake up, are you okay, love?" Elphaba stirred and her eyes fluttered open. "Fiyero..." she whispered.

The look on her face confused him. It was as if he were a stranger she had never before laid eyes upon until that very moment, and suddenly her world was filled with illumination, her meaning suddenly clear, and her life suddenly given reason.

Her eyes filled with tears and she smiled.

"I promised you, Fiyero," she said as she sat up. "Didn't I promise you?"  
"What-"

"Tell me something, Yero. Can you feel this?" She leaned in and kissed him deeply. He was shocked and elated to feel her soft lips mold themselves perfectly to his own.

When she pulled back to look at him, there was a steady stream of overjoyed tears flowing smoothly down her face, leaving behind wet trails that glistened in the early morning light coming in from outside that was dimmed by the dust on the windows, making her look to him more like a goddess than ever.

"H-How...?" Elphaba shook her head. "We may never know for sure," she said, "but I honestly don't care all that much. I'm just grateful to have you back!" Too overwhelmed with emotion to speak, Fiyero just grabbed her and pulled her in for another kiss.

This time, neither of them held anything back. It was deep and passionate, and they poured everything into it; all of their pain and heartache and countless other emotions that they both suffered from during three weeks of seperation that felt like an eternity, all their love and passion for each other, their hearts and souls, all into just one kiss.

They could have stayed that way for hours, lost in each other for the entire day if Dorothy and Brr hadn't started to make gagging sounds. "Just wait," Elphaba said, looking pointedly at Dorothy. "One day you'll meet someone who would die for you and you'll fall just as hopelessly in love. It's only a matter of time."

"Ew," the younger girl said flatly. "Sha...Wha...Wha hapened?" Glinda asked as she came to and sat up. "You guys went all laser light show and Tin Face pulled a Houdini," Dorothy said told her. The others looked at her in confusion. "I guess you don't have laser light shows or Harry Houdini in Oz, huh? Nevermind then."  
"Boq is just...gone," Fiyero said. "No scorch marks, nothing. Even his axe is gone. It's like...he never even existed."

Glinda stared at him, jaw on the floor. "Huuuuuuh..." she said. Unable to resist making a crack, he grinned and said, "Come on, say it with me now; huuuu-maaaa-"

She smacked him.

"Now _that _one I felt," he said. "Good, because that was just to be sure that you could. Now I need to do the real one."

"Wait, whattaya mean re-"

Smack.

"...OOOOW-UH! Glinda, that one really hurt! Sweet Oz, I think you just disloacated my jaw! Dammit, woman!"  
"It should hurt, I put twice as much force in just to make it as painful as possible."

Elphaba rolled her eyes and sighed. "Please don't make me play mother here, you two," she said. "So...what are we supposed to do now?" Brr asked. They all looked around at each other for a moment before Elphaba spoke. "Well," she said as they stood up. "First, I believe one of us has a very important decision to make."

She turned to Dorothy. "Who?" the girl asked. "Me?"

"Dorothy, I want you to listen closely to what I'm about to tell you and think very, _very _carefully before you give me an answer, do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

"You came here totally unaware that any of us even existed, and completely ignorant of the hardships that we have all faced over the course of the past three years. Now, I believe it's safe to say that our problems and yours have become one and the same, would you agree with that?"

"Yes."

"Then you now have a choice. Keep in mind, however, that the path you choose could be completely life altering, not only for you, but for everybody you have ever come in contact with outside of Oz."

Dorothy took a deep breath and let it out. "What are the paths I can take?" she asked.

"You only have two. The first option is to return home to life as you knew it prior to all of this. You will pass the whole thing off as a mere dream, tornado and all."  
"Even you?"

"...Even us."

"And...my second option?"

"Your second option...is to remain here with us. Everyone in your world will completely forget you. There will be no pictures of you, no written accounts, records, or documents with you name in them. There won't even be any birth certificate. It will be as if you were never born. Choose very, very carefully. Think about this, try to consider the consequences that each choice holds."

"How much time has passed since I got here?" Dorothy asked. "I can't say," Elphaba told her after a brief pause. "It could be only seconds, it could be years. Either way, however, should you choose to return, I'll make sure you get put back after the tornado has ended, that way it will seem as if you simply hit your head on something during the commotion and it knocked you out, which would be where the whole dream aspect I mentioned before comes in."

Dorothy nodded, chewing the corner of her lower lip anxiously, debating things in her head. She stared down at her feet, scrutinizing every little detail about the Ruby Slippers, studying the patterns of light hitting them, trying hard to memorize them from every angle for reasons that even she did not know.

"This is what it all comes down to, Dorothy. Everything you've been through during your time here should greatly influence the decision you are about to make. Right here, right now...This is your moment of judgement. Which path will you choose?"

**_FINI_**

* * *

**AN: So, which path _will _she choose? I can't say...yet. The answer will be revealed in the sequal. Now, who found the answer to Elphaba's mystery sickness? Elphaba has known what it was all along, and she has only told one person so far. She told that person in this chapter. Who, you ask? Let's just say that only two people can speak the Language of Old. The answers to all of your questions are about to be revealed. Read on, my pretties.**

**Vinkun Translations:**

_**Yenah, Ka geyeno vavah sival cerena: **_**"Yero, I have to tell you something." ****Much like _Fallah, Yenah _will be used often in the future, so do not forget that it translates to "Yero." _Yenah, _again, has that "ae" sound at the beginning. "Yae-nuh," with a slight "a" sound to the "uh" part at the end, just like in _Fallah. _The two are very similar in that prospect, which I did on purpose. _Ka, _or "I." Here, we see the "ka" by itself for the first time, which means that not only does it use that pronoun as its base, meaning it must always be capitalized, but also, since we see it without any additional letters tacked onto the end of it as we do with things such as_ Kav, _"I'll," this tells us that it is simply the pronoun "I" being used in its most basic form. _Geyeno, _"have to," pronounced "gae-en-oh." The "en" is pronounced as it is in "ten." And, once again, we have the "ae" pronounciation that we see in Fae. _Vavah, _"tell," is "vah-vah." Very simple, one of the least difficult to pronounce in perhaps the entire language. _Sival, _"you," is "see-vah," again, very simple. A very good example of where to find this word inside of a longer one would be the phrase _Avash sivalia, _which is, if memory serves, the very first thing in the entire Arjiki language that I ever created, and it means "I love you." Finally, _cerena, _"something." The "C" is a soft "C," so we say it as like an "S," and the entire word is "suh-ren-ah," and once again, the "uh" at the beginning has a slight "a" sound to it. The root words are, of course, _cer, _"some," and _rena, _"thing." We usually refrain from using a double "r" in the middle, although this is not required and a double "r" can, if preferred, be used, which make it appear as _cerrena._**

_**Rava: **_**Very simple, one word only; "Really." Pronounced "rah-vuh," again, one of the simplest pronounciations thus far. **

_**Vashava: **_**"Yes?"**

**_Ravash teva dala nevo teva shavnae rekan ganav naeano:_ "Ask the night in the forest three weeks ago." Now, if you look closely, you'll notice that, for the first time (that I can remember, anyway), I have given each word in English its own seperate Arjiki equivilant without combining any into a single word. I won't get into the specifics, as it is a tad long compared to most other sentences due in part to the lack of word combinations, so I will simply translate what each word means and give the pronounciations. _Ravash, _ask, "rah-vah-sh." _Teva_ is a commonly used word and absolutely must be remembered, it means the, and is pronounced "tae-vah." _Dala, _night, "dah-la." _Nevo, _in, "nae-voh." (think "oh" as in "oh my gosh," but with the letter V in front of it) Then again, we see _teva, _the, after that, we have _shavnae, _forest, "sh-ahv-nae." _Rekan,_ three, "rae-kahn." _Ganav, _week, or, depending on the context, weeks, plural, which is what we have here, "gah-nahv." And finally, _naeano, _ago, "nae-ah-no."**

**Now, are you ready for the answer to the question that I know has been burning within, slowly gnawing and eating away at you from the inside out? Good. **

**Close your eyes.**

**Count to ten.**

**Take a deep breath.**

**Here it is.**

**Ladies and gentleman, Maggie the Mad Majesty of Muchness, the Black Cat, the Ravendesk, the Nevermore Raven, the Lenore Raven, Lenore, the Nevermore Raven of Lenore, the Lenore Raven of Nevermore, the Raven, Lady Ligeia herself, along with Lady Glinda Arduenna of Frottica of the Pertha Hills of the Upper Uplands of Gillikin, Crown Prince Fiyero Tiigelaar of the Arjiki clan, ruling tribe of the powerful Vinkus, and Elphaba Thropp, Grand Queen of Oz and the Emerald Nation's most powerful sorceress, soon to take on her newest title, Crown Princess of the Arjikis and wife of Prince Fiyero, is deeply honored and proud to present...**

**...the Final Translation...**

**...the Final Answer...**

**...the One..**

**...the Only...**

**...the name of Our Grand Queen Elphaba's long-contemplated and long-researched...**

**...Mystery. Sickness. **

**Two words only, ladies and gentleman.**

**Two. Words. Only.**

**You read it once without realizing what it was, and completely ignorant of what it meant, of its great signifigance.**

**Ignorance, I now commandeth thee...**

**...be goneth! Return from whence thou hast come!**

**Because here it is, at long, long last:**

_**Kava denego.**_

**"I'm pregnant."**


End file.
